Biochips create new opportunities for medtech

SAN FRANCISCO – Researchers are making silicon more flexible and friendly to skin and human tissues, opening up new doors in medical electronics. But the work is still in an early stage, said a researcher in a keynote at the International Electron Devices Meeting.

In a handful of pictures we show examples of their work. They include:

• Integrated circuits that help heal wounds, then dissolve
• Bio monitors placed and removed like a child’s temporary tattoo
• Active foils that wrap over the brain

“This is a future that could co-exist with the more traditional future of Moore’s Law,” said John A. Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois. “It’s a daunting task because the biology is constantly working to kill the device,” he told the audience of several hundred circuit and process engineers.

The payoffs are great. Rogers showed concepts for tattoo-like bio monitors that could be used as alternatives to more invasive sensors for premature newborn babies (below). “We hope to use this in the future, we have a lot of pieces, but there are some technical challenges remaining,” he said.